SAN ANTONIO — Severe winter weather caused flight cancellations and delays beginning early Thursday morning at the San Antonio International Airport (SAT). Officials do not foresee having to completely shut down the airport, but do expect more delays and cancellations through at least the start of Friday, if not a little longer.
"The best recommendation we can give is to coordinate closely with your airline," said Jesus Saenz, director of airports in San Antonio.
Saenz urges travelers to check the status of their flights beforehand.
All runways were open Thursday and ground crews were readily available to de-ice planes. Saenz said crews also treated runways and checked the friction every 15 to 20 minutes.
Airport crews began preparing for the winter weather earlier this week.
"We were well in advance of this," said Saenz. "Like 72 hours ago, before we hit this event, we were already prepping our airfield, our roadways, our overpasses, all of the helixes inside of the garages."
Travelers, though, still found themselves waiting hours for their flights if they weren't cancelled altogether.
Rosa Marrufo Rodriguez, for example, was on her way back home to Green Bay, Wisconsin after attending a funeral in Mexico.
"Nos tenÍan en el avión, y nos dicíean primero que primero un delay, y despues, otra vez, y luego que regresan se pal gate, pero si vamos a salir," she said. "They had us on the airplane and told us at first it was delayed, then again, then they told us to return to the gate, but we were still going to depart."
Her plane never took off and was rescheduled for Friday morning, but she worries it will be canceled again.
SAT airport officials said they will continue to work closely with airlines as they monitor weather conditions. You can also track flight status' on flysanantonio.com.